Paul Colletti / staff
Lemon-almond-anise biscotti in the home of Paul Cioe of Rock Island. More photos from this shoot
When I was a kid on Chicago's near-west side, among my favorite things about holidays were the sweet treats my Italian grandmother called "i dolci." Fortunately, there were plenty of holidays and plenty of treats.
At least four of my aunts lived within three blocks of the tiny bungalow where my grandparents raised thirteen children, and my parents and siblings and I lived just down the street. These remarkable women kept their households running and their children growing, and sometimes even worked outside the home in hospitals, factories and schools. Their place to unwind and be creative was the kitchen, where they celebrated their southern Italian roots as well as their individuality. There was a treat for every occasion, and my mother and her sisters became known for their holiday creations: honey-wine cookies at Christmas, lamb-shaped cakes at Easter, date-fig cookies called "cuccidati" for St. Joseph's day, and even Italian love knots called "taralli" for Valentine's day.
The oldest and best known of these treats are the humble twice-baked cookies called biscotti, the finger-length crunchy delights that can stand up to a serious dunking better than any donut. In fact, the early Roman historian Pliny claimed that the biscotti of Caesar's time, prepared for the long treks of travelers and soldiers, might last for centuries!
Several years ago, haunted by the scents and tastes of my childhood, I decided to try my hand at baking. Most of the pre-packaged biscotti sold in coffee shops and supermarkets then were so hard and dry that they might well have been around for centuries. In search of better biscotti, I did some research, sought the advice of experts like Giulia Conicella and her daughter Rosa Steinbaugh of D'Alessandro Pasta To Go in Rock Island, and began exploring the world of the twice-baked cookie. Here's the basic recipe I settled on, with optional ingredients and healthy substitutions described below:
Almond-Anise Biscotti (twice-baked cookies)
4 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks butter
2 ounces vanilla extract (or more to taste)
1 ounce anise extract or 1/2 teaspoon anise oil
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
4 eggs
1 cup chopped almonds
1. Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda with a whisk in a large bowl.
2. Microwave the butter in another bowl for about 50 seconds.
3. Add the extracts and flavorings to the butter — this will help cool it a little.
4. Mix the sugar into the butter and flavorings with an egg beater until dissolved.
5. Beat the eggs with a fork; then blend them into the butter mixture with the egg beater until smooth.
6. Pour the butter/egg mixture into the flour/baking powder.
7. Add the nuts and mix with a big spoon until all flour is moistened.
8. Knead lightly on a floured surface and work into a big smooth ball; then shape into a mound on a lightly floured dinner plate and store in the refrigerator overnight.
9. Cut the chilled mound into four quarters and roll them into logs. Press the logs into loaves about 1-inch high on heavy cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, two logs per sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until firm and slightly browned on top.
10. After they've cooled for about 15 minutes, cut the loaves into slices about 3/4-inch thick with a large sharp knife on a wooden board. Lay the slices on their sides on the baking pans, and return them to the oven for another 15 minutes or so until lightly toasted — but not burned! You might want to turn them after ten minutes or so.
Makes four dozen.
Tips for better biscotti
Sprinkle coarse sugar on the loaves before the first baking or finish the tops with a light icing or ribbons of white chocolate at the end of the second baking. For longer, bakery-style biscotti, cut the loaves at an angle. For a drier cookie, use less butter; for a richer one, use more. To add crunch, cool the biscotti on a wire rack in a cold place. My back porch this winter was perfect!
Optional ingredients: pecans, hazelnuts, pine nuts or walnuts; 1/2 cup dried fruit or chocolate morsels; extracts or flavorings as desired, such as lemon, coffee, coconut or hazelnut.
With the ready availability of butter/non-hydrogenated margarine blends like Smart Balance sticks and organic flours and sugars, it's easy to create a cookie that's better for you than most pre-prepared desserts. My vote for greatest contribution to the texture/health equation goes to the new Ultra-Grain flour from Eagle Mills. This white whole wheat flour boasts more than four times the fiber of white flour, but bakes like white and holds its crunch.
But fiber or no fiber, one thing is certain. These "biscotti fatti in casa" (homemade cookies) are free of two of the major dietary culprits of our day — trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. You can make them healthful or decadent; they taste great either way.
Italian Love Knots ('Taralli')
Here is an Italian cookie recipes that's perfect for Valentine's Day, compliments of Patricia Ritacco, who still lives on the Chicago street where I grew up in the 1950s. The recipe was given to her by her late friend and neighbor, Florence De Vito, who lived next door to my grandparents for most of her life.
4 cups all-purpose flour (more if needed)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon or vanilla extract
Lemon or vanilla frosting:
1 pound confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
Juice of 1 lemon, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon water
Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Blend in eggs and remaining ingredients. Knead until soft and smooth. (Add additional flour if needed.) Break off pieces about the size of a walnut and roll into a rope about four inches long. Tie into a knot and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Apply a thin coat of frosting (see below) while still warm. Cool on a wire rack until frosting is set. Store the cookies in an air-tight container with wax paper between each layer.
Mix together the confectioner's sugar, butter and extract or water to form a smooth, thin icing.
A final bit of advice
Experiment. No two batches of biscotti are likely to turn out the same way. A good cookie is more than the sum of its ingredients. I learned this recently when I sent some Christmas cookies to a cousin I hadn't seen in a while. Along with some biscotti, I included three tiny pastry shells filled with ground almonds and other delights. In the Abruzzo region of Italy, my friend Rosa tells me, they call these cookies "bocca di 'dama," or, literally, the lady's mouth.
"I loved those little date cups," my cousin Mike told me over the phone. "My mother used to make those."
There were no dates in the recipe, but the cookies took my cousin back, just the same.
Paul Cioe is a freelance writer and musician. He lives in Rock Island.
